Batman Begins (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Christopher Nolan released his tenth directed feature film in 2017, the escape/evacuation World War II thriller chronicling the events of Dunkirk. Being well regarded as one of the best directors of the the twenty first century; one of the rare breed who manages to consistently please the general audience and critical one alike. Breaking out with Memento and finding major success in reinventing Batman on the big screen, Nolan has been an influential voice in cinema and made many modern classics. Commemorating ten films, Warner Bros has put together a box set containing the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray debut of the segment of his work from Batman Begins to Dunkirk. Releasing on December 19th, you have the option for a full box set, individual releases or a trilogy set with just the Dark Knight films. We have already reviewed the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-rays of Dunkirk and Interstellar and will continue with the Batman trilogy and Inception (We were not sent The Prestige for review). In this review, we cover Batman Begins. Continue reading ‘Batman Begins (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
We’re currently in the middle of a heated debate about a divisive Star Wars film, but earlier in the year we had a moment with a little arthouse picture that got a wide release. Darren Aronofsky returned to more or less his roots with the very challenging and not audience friendly mother! starring Jennifer Lawrence. The film saw critical praise (Which, seemingly has gone down since its release) and audience ire. The film outright bombed, which means many of you probably didn’t even go to see it in the theaters. Well, now’s your chance to take a look at it in the comfort of your own home. And why not give the film a gander on the best possible format while you’re at it? On December 19th, this trivial film will be available on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray for your digestion. Order yourself a copy if you loved it or are curious from the Amazon link provided below. 
First there was Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass in 2010 and then there was Kingsman: The Secret Service (Aaron Neuwirth’s review of it all 
Who here is not looking forward to this December 19th Interstellar 4K release on Ultra HD Blu-ray, not to mention the rest of Christopher Nolan films previously announced 
Men In Black is 20 years old? Damn! Within a period of years it managed to put out a trilogy of films. It has proved to be a well that Will Smith has gone back to time and time again to grab himself a little piece of blockbuster. Recently it had made waves when there as talk that the Jonah Hill/Channing Tatum-led 21 Jump Street relaunch series would spend its third film crossing over with the Men In Black franchise. Now THAT is something that would have been so insane that I would have KILLED to see it. Unfortunately that’s not coming to fruition probably ever. But, what is coming fruition for the 20th anniversary is a nice 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray box set. The set features all the same features as before, but with a new 4K transfer and Dolby Atmos tracks. And its available now. So order yourself a copy from the Amazon linkage you find below at the very bottom. 
Christopher Nolan stands as one of maybe our last great filmmakers that have bridged the gap of their visions to big budget mainstream productions. While he gained esteem and clout through making some Batman films, he’s used it to distance himself and become a household name among directors not unlike Quentin Tarantino or Steven Spielberg. His films are original and his name attached to it make the film an event. They are both impressive and success stories at the box office. His latest, a passionate endeavor on the more little known battle of Dunkirk, amazed audiences and critics alike with its bold choice to be primarily shot in IMAX. While nobody’s home is going to accurately replicate that experience, you’ll still be able to enjoy this landmark war film when it comes to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on December 19th as a standalone or part of the 4K Ultra-HD Christopher Nolan box set. 
Director S. Craig Zahler caught the attention of many with his 2015 film Bone Tomahawk. I know here at Why So Blu, many of us were quite fond of that little Western-horror hybrid gem. Now he returns with his follow up, Brawl In Cell Block 99, a sorta prison thriller starring the likes of Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Don Johnson, Marc Blucas and the loveable Udo Kier. Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, this one had a smaller theatrical run, paired with a VOD release shortly after. The film has received many positive marks from all around the globe, most of them praising Vince Vaughn as giving one of his career best performances. RLJE Films is surprising us with not just a Blu-ray and DVD release, but a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray home video edition of the film on December 26th. 
Now, we’ve come to a close on our Thanksgiving marathon session of the Transformers films. Maybe if I feel the need, I’ll write some thoughts on The Last Knight so that this site will have an archive of all my thoughts on every Transformers film. Seriously, I’ve done all but that one including the animated one from the 80s that I covered a year ago. Anyway, we are onto the staying in continuity soft reboot of the series with Mark Wahlberg taking the lead. My memory is super hazy on it (I may have fallen asleep when I first watched it), but I think I liked it more than most people maybe (Which isn’t some sort of high endorsement). But, lets see how I feel now, eh? It arrives on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray to complete your set on December 5th (Possibly earlier according to some Amazon users). 
We continue this Thanksgiving weekend journey through autobot Earth history with Transformers: Dark of the Moon. This third film completes the Sam Witwicky trilogy Shia exits after this one. When the film came out it was noted as being a noticeable improvement over the first film. And oddly, its one of the first films I can remember where the marketing involved a lot of people involved bashing and degrading the previous film in the series to sell this new one. Stick by your guns folks, your project didn’t work with audiences, but you can still believe in it! I remember personally thinking Dark of the Moon was just as bad as Revenge of the Fallen, but now I get to revisit and see if I still think that way. You can find this one on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray with the others on December 5th (Or I’m hearing they may ship earlier now). 
When last we left, it was the wonderful Minions-centric prequel to Despicable Me that was torturing my soul. As someone who is indifferent but doesn’t mind this series, that movie was flat out awful. No defending there. But, they’re back, but in more proper form with the third film in the Despicable Me franchise. A funny fact, this was the only film to cross 1 billion dollars globally at the box office this past summer. Crazy, right? It did well in the United States but REALLY blew up overseas. Now its coming home for you, let me try that again, for your kids to own. You could grab it for them now or make it a stocking stuffer. Only the finest in video and audio quality for your child, right? Anywho, you can get ahead and pre-order it now by using the Amazon link below. 
We continue on, going just a swift two years later, with the sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Like the other four films not called The Last Knight in this series, it will be available on December 5th. This second film in the franchise was one that many fans and moviegoers thought was quite subpar during the summer of 2009. But, its not without its dedicated fans. Why So Blu writer and contributor Gregg Senko took a lot of flack for putting this as his top film of the year while most writers had it in their ten worst. While I didn’t agree with Gregg then (or now), its nice to see hist honesty and ability to stand tall with something he loved so much. Maybe with expectations lifted and a polarizing viewing out of the way, I might begin to see more worth in it. Anywho, we continue this journey through Transformers with Revenge of the Fallen. 
Paravmount is completing their 4K Ultra-HD releases of Michael Bay’s Transformers series by releasing the first four to compliment last month’s release of The Last Knight. The four films are going to be available on December 5th (Though there is word that these might be shipping early). While I wasn’t the biggest fan of these films, I’ve not seen them much and am actually pretty excited to go back and revisit them for this set of reviews. It feels like some sort of fun challenge. If anything, hopefully these look stellar and rock my surround system. Plus, my son has only seen the animated film (That I reviewed last year) and has been wanting to see these since he saw a trailer for The Last Knight. Just shy of The Last Knight, my Naptown Nerd faithful will pretty much have a full retrospective from me by the end of this. Let’s begin now, with 2008’s first live action Transformer movie, a film that our own Brian White has called “iconic” and a “religious experience” and the film that got him to upgrade to HD-DVD. 
For the longest time, director Steven Soderbergh has claimed to us that he’s retiring and walking away from filmmaking, only to come back and give us just one more. Or that after this one he’s got this, this and this and then he’ll be done. Well, as someone who’s very much enjoyed the catalog he’s built over the years after breaking out with Sex, Lies and Videotape, I hope he never makes good on his retirement promise. Case in point, his latest film from this past summer, Logan Lucky; a sort of return to his caper films that got explored thoroughly with his wildly popular and iconic Ocean’s Eleven trilogy from the previous decade. You’ll be able to check this one out when it comes to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on November 28th. 
Coming in as a surprise hit at the end of a pretty disappointing August this past summer was Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson buddy comedy, The Hitman’s Bodyguard. It was kind of a surprise, with many thinking Logan Lucky (Review for that 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray release coming soon) would probably do better. But, this fun little throwback wound up taking in over 75 million box office dollars on a mere 30 million dollar budget. And in this day and age, it had the rarity of holding on to the top spot at the box office for 3 straight weeks until the IT phenomenon launch and made more in one weekend than this movie did in its entire run. Anywho, you’ll be able to check this one out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray when it hits stores/online/the grocery November 21st. Just in time for some turkey. 
You’ll remember back in March that Warner Brothers began the format jump on its acclaimed and super popular Harry Potter series. That batch of films, you’ll remember, started with the back four films, to coincide with the 4K Ultra-HD release of the first film in the prequel series in in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They promised the rest of the films in the hugely successful franchise later in the year and here we are with almost two months to spare. The remaining four films, the first four years at Hogwarts, will be out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on November 7th. This review will focus on a film serving as a big turning point in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 
You’ll remember back in March that Warner Brothers began the format jump on its acclaimed and super popular Harry Potter series. That batch of films, you’ll remember, started with the back four films, to coincide with the 4K Ultra-HD release of the first film in the prequel series in in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They promised the rest of the films in the hugely successful franchise later in the year and here we are with almost two months to spare. The remaining four films, the first four years at Hogwarts, will be out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on November 7th. This review will focus on probably the one that people were most eager for, Aflonso Cuaron’s adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 
You’ll remember back in March that Warner Brothers began the format jump on its acclaimed and super popular Harry Potter series. That batch of films, you’ll remember, started with the back four films, to coincide with the 4K Ultra-HD release of the first film in the prequel series in in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They promised the rest of the films in the hugely successful franchise later in the year and here we are with almost two months to spare. The remaining four films, the first four years at Hogwarts, will be out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on November 7th. This review will focus on 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second film in the series. 
You’ll remember back in March that Warner Brothers began the format jump on its acclaimed and super popular Harry Potter series. That batch of films, you’ll remember, started with the back four films, to coincide with the 4K Ultra-HD release of the first film in the prequel series in in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They promised the rest of the films in the hugely successful franchise later in the year and here we are with almost two months to spare. The remaining four films, the first four years at Hogwarts, will be out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on November 7th. This review will focus on the first film, the one that started it all, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. 
